Ten Top Tips for Home Brewing Beer

Today we look at 10 tips for brewing better beer. These are things I wish I knew when I started homebrewing but had to learn the hard way. Enjoy!

Use High Quality, Fresh Ingredients – Fresh ingredients make better homebrew. If you started with dry yeast, move up to liquid yeast. If you are an extract brewer, look for fresh extract rather than a can that is several years old. Store liquid yeast in the refrigerator, grains in a cool dry place, and hops in the freezer. Hops, dry malt, yeast, liquid malt and crushed grains all have a limited shelf life and must be used quickly. Crushed grains, dry malt and liquid malt will oxidize over time.

Do your Homework – Designing great beer is one part science and one part art. Why guess on the science part? Switching to brewing software like BeerSmith can make a difference in your brewing as it gives you the opportunity to calculate the color, bitterness and original gravity up front to match your brewing style. As I brewed more, I started reading top brewing books, engaging in discussion forums and browsing the internet for brewing resources. All of these sources, combined with experience and experimentation dramatically impacted my brewing style and consistency in a search for brewing perfection.

Keep It Sterile – Anything that touches your beer after it has started cooling must be sanitized using any of the popular sanitizing solutions (bleach, iodophor, etc). The period immediately after you cool your beer is particularly critical as bacteria and other infections are most likely to take hold before the yeast has started fermentation.

Cool the Wort Quickly – Cooling your beer quickly will increase the fallout of proteins and tannins that are bad for your beer and will also reduce the chance of infection. An immersion wort chiller is a relatively inexpensive investment that will improve the clarity and quality of your beer. Cooling is particularly important for full batch boils.

Boil for 60-90 Minutes – Boiling your wort performs several important functions. It sterilizes your wort, vaporizes many undesirable compounds, releases bittering oils from the hops and coagulates proteins and tannins from the grains so they can fall out during cooling. To achieve all of these noble goals you need to boil for at least 60 minutes, and for lighter styles of beers a longer boil of 90 minutes is desirable.

Control Fermentation Temperature – Though few brewers have dedicated fermentation refrigerators, there are simple methods you can use to maintain a constant temperature for ales during fermentation. The best technique I’ve seen is to pick a cool, dry area in your home and then wrap the fermentor in wet towels and place a fan in front of it. Wet the towels every 12 hours or so, and you should get a steady fermentation temperature in the 66-68F range. Most brewing shops sell stick-on thermometers that can be attached to your fermentation vessel to monitor the temperature.

Switch to a Full Batch Boil – Boiling all of your wort will benefit to your beer. If you are only boiling 2-3 gallons of a 5 gallon batch, then you are not getting the full benefits of a 60-90 minute boil. The purchase of a 7-12 gallon brew pot and (highly recommended) outdoor propane burner (which will make the spouse happy as you now brew outside) are great intermediate steps for moving to all-grain brewing and the full boils will improve your beer.

Use Glass Fermenters – Glass carboys (or stainless) fermenters offer significant advantages over the typical plastic bucket. First they are much easier to clean and sterilize. Second, glass (or stainless) provides a 100% oxygen barrier, where plastic buckets are porous and can leak oxygen if stored for long periods. Third, plastic fermenters often have very poor seals around the top of the bucket and can leak in both directions making it difficult to determine when fermentation has actually completed. A 5 gallon glass carboy will do the job better, and is available at a very reasonable price from most stores.

Make a Yeast Starter – While pitching directly from a tube or packet of liquid yeast is OK, your beer will ferment better if you make a yeast starter first. Boil up a small amount of dried malt extract in a quart of water with 1/4 oz of hops. Cool it well and then pitch your yeast into it 2-3 days before you brew. Install some foil or an airlock over it and place it in a cool dark location. When brew day comes, pitching your starter will result in a quicker start and less risk of infection or off flavors.

Make Long Term Purchases – You may have started brewing with an off-the-shelf kit, but if you enjoy brewing then you are best off making long term purchases rather than a series of short term purchases. For example, early on I bought a 3 gallon pot, then a 5 gallon pot, then an 8 gallon enamel pot and finally a 9 gallon stainless. It would have been much cheaper to jump to the 9 gallon stainless after the 3 gallon pot. Similarly I’ve had several sizes of immersion chillers, finally settling on a two stage 3/8″ diameter copper coil. If you instead make long term purchases (a good pot, a good chiller, glass carboys, a nice mash tun/cooler) you will save a lot of money in the long run.

A longer boil does help reduce DMS and has other benefits as well (better hot and cold break). However, most of the benefit would be evident in a lighter beer much more than a heavy stout or porter. If I was going to cut corners on the boil, I would probably do so on a darker beer where the flavor might be masked.

I made a simple counter-current heat exchanger to cool my beer while I siphon it out of the brew kettle and into my fermenting bucket. I made the unit by fitting a 20′ long 1/4″ copper tube into an old (or new) garden hose: wort travels down inside the copper tubing while cold tap water passes up around the copper tube inside the garden hose. To build the unit you need two plastic “T” pipes for each end and four short pieces of garden hose and one long hose that will form the body of the heat exchanger. Install the copper tubing into the long section of hose (16′ if using a 20′ tube) and then insert the Ts at each end and clamp. ( I gently bent the hose/tubing into a 1-2′ diameter coil being careful not to introduce a kink into the copper tubing). Fit a 5 – 10″ section of hose to each of the Ts and clamp all of the joints ( there will be 10 openings: 6 T openings and 2 at each end to clamp the garden hose to the copper tube; and 2 where the tap water comes in and goes out -don’t clamp these 2). I ensured that 2′-3′ of copper tubing sticks out at the top (which I gently bent in a loop to fit into my kettle) end about 1′ sticks out at the other end to which I attached a 3′ length of PVC tubing. This lets me clamp off the flow through the heat exchanger to set up a siphon. Lastly, I attached a “Gardinia” brand faucet attachment to the bottom end that I use to quick attach to the cold water tap. Cold water flows into the garden hose at the bottom of the heat exchanger ensuring that the coldest tap water contacts the coldest wort. As the water flows up the hose around the copper tube, it takes the heat out of the wort. As the water exits at the top of the unit, it meets the hottest wort, maximizing heat loss from the wort to the water. Make sure that you secure the hose were the water comes out (effluent) so it does not make a mess. I sterilize the unit by creating a siphon and placing the long end of the unit in a bleach solution and letting it siphon through the unit for at least 2-3 minutes. Clamp the PVC tube and put the long end of the tuning into your brew kettle after 5 minutes of whirlpooling so the tube rests against the side at the bottom, hook up and turn on your water and siphon the hot wort. I use a clamp to control the flow and use a digital thermometer to measure the temperature of the wort coming out of the bottom . Typically hot wort is 90C and cool wort is 18C and takes about 20-30 minutes to cool 23 litres. I wash the unit by attaching the PVC tube to my water supply and flushing the system. I run dilute bleach through the unit, ensure it has drained well and attach the end of the PVC tube to the top of the unit and store.

Just purchased Beersmith, and it is very helpful for me as I am just getting hook in this wonderful world of home drewing.I have a 5 gallon stainless pot, and boil 3 gallons and add 2 Gallons of water for top off to 5 gallon batch.
My question is, in the Beersmith program, how is the best way to calculate the partial extract boils for the right IBU amounts? I know with the lower amount of extract, the lower the Est.OG, and that raises the hop IBUs. I am working on a clone for Widmer Drop Top and got the Values from there website . Was just wondering what was the best way to use Beersmith for the partial extract boil and add the rest at flameout.

Got in late but just to comment on the bucket/Carboy debate, I never hear much about the option of fermenting in corny kegs. I’ve used these from the inception of my homwbrewing and they work great. No breaking, no light, easy to use handles, no plastic, easy to clean, easy to rig a blow off tube, etc. etc. Cut a couple inches off the dip tube and use co2 to transfer beer and trub left at bottom. Put in full dip tube to harvest yeast. Only gripe I’ve heard is lack of headspace but its the same as a 5 gal Carboy. If your worried pt a dollar pack of anti foam in brew and no issues.

Number 4 is interesting…here in Australia there are a lot of experienced home brewers now using the “no chill” method, i.e. storing their hot wort in plastic containers (“cubes”) with the air squeezed out, sometimes for weeks before transferring to their fermentation vessel and pitching their yeast. I’m curious to know why NOT getting the proteins and tannins out of their wort via rapid chilling is apparently not a problem for their end beer?

GREAT site gents,,,
my question is about 44 gall drums of liquid coopers extract used by the U BREW IT self brew outlets,
How long is it after these drums are open is it until oxydisation is an issue…what is the issue

Secondly there is a common taste /medecine like to all their beers, a down side of extract ??? or can
a reasonable beer be made with extract… They have powdered yeast, one ale yeast,one lager, for a hundred supposed different beers. I like the convenience of their facility but the beer is not up to scratch,, anything i can do ?
thanks guys keep up the good work.

If done properly, your supplier will actually pressurize the large drum with CO2 so it does not oxidize. I don’t know the exact amount of time before oxidization becomes obvious for a large vat like that exposed to air however.

If you have a medicine taste it is probably not the extracts. The most likely cause of a medicine or band-aid taste is chlorophenols – usually from Chlorine in the water you used or excessive extra bleach used when cleaning. Some related flavors such as tannins (bitter) you might also perceive as medicinal.

You can make outstanding beer with extracts – it is a matter of using quality ingredients (use liquid yeast if you can get it), fermenting at the proper temperatures, pitching a proper size yeast starter, etc…

Mostly I fully agree, but I would just like to comment on no. 8: using glass fermenters in preference to plastic buckets. I thought the same until one carboy neck snapped during a transfer and the carboy fell on the floor and shattered. The large thick shards are lethal weapons and I was lucky to get away without serious cuts to my feet. I also lost the brew… so I now use “Better Bottles”, they are impermeable to oxygen, as easy to clean as glass, reasonable price and much safer.

I would add two more tips:
– Don’t use bleach, switch to iodophor. It doesn’t leave a residual aroma/taste and it doesn’t corrode stainlees, like bleach will.
– Write down everything you do, everything you measure, and everything you observe. You can’t get any better if you don’t know what you’re actually doing. Plus, it will get you in the habit of actually doing the measurements if you make up a worksheet beforehand to fill in every step, and you won’t skip any steps.

My partner and I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be precisely what I’m looking for.
Would you offer guest writers to write content to suit your needs?
I wouldn’t mind producing a post or elaborating on some of the subjects you write about
here. Again, awesome web site!

Good tips for the most part, but I also agree with what Alan McKay says.

I switched from Glass Carboys to a home made 16G plastic conical (based on Hess Brewery design) and make 12G batches. I find it far easier than glass carboys in terms of cleaning and making beer. I’ve had no issues with the quality of my beer, it’s every bit as good as I used to make in glass carboys.

I have brewed with dry yeast and lots of liquid yeast with great results. I thought good quality commercial dry yeast are captured at a healthy stage. Good pitching rates and adequate oxygenation I think more important than just liquid yeast (with low pitch and no oxygenation).

I’d like to second the comment from Alex Kopf about keeping track of every brew session. Nothing has improved my beer more than that. Anyone can make a good batch of beer once. A good brewer can make the same good batch of beer over and over. If you use BeerSmith, print your brew steps and keep notes on there during the session, then copy whatever recipe you’re brewing to the brew log and enter your notes when you’re done.

Maybe nit picking but I don’t recall any articles on yeast starters calling for addition of hops. In fact I have seen some that say not needed and/or desirable. If not needed it doesn’t make much sense in ‘wasting’ hops although granted the amount is small compared to what would be used in a full batch of beer.

I’ve spoken to everyone I know about glass carboy vs. bucket fermentation, including the amazing Ken Schmidt, and have come to the decision to continue with my plastic buckets. I plan to rotate them out every six months to avoid the scratching/bacteria problem (my hoses as well). While each vessel has its advantages, my main reason for sticking with the plastic bucket is the ease in harvesting yeast, which I find exciting.

Best ways in which you have explained all the tips in details for how to brew beer at home step by step but in no.4 cool the wort quickly u told there cooling is good for beer but in that line u are saying about increase of fallout of proteins and there you told both positive and negative impacts of that. Whole article is good and i implemented all steps which you have explained above of making beer and i got a excellent results of that here i got it what type of ways i want. these are not only easiest and understandable methods rather these are money saving and less expensive.Thanks for sharing your views.

SS Brewtech makes awesome stainless conical fermenters and brew bucket for a fraction of the cost of their competitors. I agree with everything said in this blog. Each improvement in your equipment makes huge improvements in your beer! A cheap freezer and a digital temperature controller also allows you to control fermentation Temps and doubles as and aging location for finished beer and cold beer storage once it is aged. I spent under $250 for a freezer and temp controller.

I have to disagree wholeheartedly with the glass versus plastic assertion for fermentation vessels. Carboys are heavy and dangerous, slippery when wet, and very difficult to clean. Everything about using them is awkward and risky. I used the same plastic bucket with airtight lid for dozens of batches, and never had an infection and always knew when fermentation was complete. While there may be truth in the claim that glass and stainless are less porous, the dangers and difficulties of glass and the cost of stainless make them far less desirable than plastic, particularly with the qualifier noted of using them for long-term storage. The longest I’ve left batches in a fermentation vessel is three weeks, are there people allowing beer to sit in fermenters long term? Perhaps as a secondary fermentation, but that’s becoming more and more rare all the time. I recently started using big mouth bubblers with the valve at bottom that sits above the yeast cake. They’re affordable, light, easy to clean, and incredibly simple to transfer into from the kettle and out of into kegs using the valve.

I have switched to fermenting in Corny Kegs a few batches ago. I will probably never go back to buckets or carboys. I have removed the poppit valve guts on the gas side of the keg and installed a blowoff hose over the gas fitting side and put hose in to 1/2 gallon jug of star san solution. Works great and rarely secondary ferment with the kegs. I do use a chest freezer for fermentation temp. control and can do any style this way. Cleaning the kegs of foam crust is easy with a rough sponge and water. I currently have 7 of these kegs and have brewed 10 gallon batches and prefer getting twice the beer on brew day. Doing this allows me to also properly age beer in the kegs for 30 days and more. I may carbonate up the first 5 gallons and drink right after fermentation and the second gets to age as suggested by Beersmith. This aging makes a world of difference in the final taste and finish of the beer. I also noticed that when I have a batch of beer that is not clear due to lot of hops in the schedule but letting the beer sit and age at least 4 weeks the beer will clear in appearance. I am now moving to BIAB with my 16 gallon pot and moving up to all grain brewing without the mash tun.

You can find Corny Kegs anywhere from 25$ to 50$ and well worth the price when you keg your beer. This to me is a no brainer to ferment in the keg when you look what big mouth bubblers go for. It takes just minutes to use the keg for kegging when your done fermenting. I do siphon the beer off the yeast cake and chose not to cut the the draw tube. Just me. I have not had a infected beer doing this method. Happy Brewing and just my 2 cents.

good tips!
I wanted to say congratulations I am a new subscriber from Rome.
I find it really useful and concise any advice. one thing I would add, and maybe an idea for a software implementation, it would be interesting, if it is already there I do not know where.
Advice that helps more in the planning stage that the brewing tips, consider the power of each individual malt to convert at most all the sugars present, to make a good recipe and thus a good beer, you have to have the right amount of enzymes during the mash. I used recently beersmith Mobile and a week I also have the program on your notebook, but I’m studying;)